The Third Screen: Now Share This

Next to the familiar buttons of Facebook’s Like, Twitter’s Tweet and Google’s +1 comes
Mogreet’s moShare.

The idea is that publishers and content owners will add the new moShare button to their Web sites to facilitate
sharing of their content to mobile phones.

When the button is clicked, a small window pops up for the user to enter their phone number and the
number of the recipient. Then the content is shared as a text message, including a link back to the original content.

Rather than posting to a
Web site or a particular circle of friends, moShare goes as a text message directly to the phone of the friend with whom you are sharing.

The
expectation is that publishers will increase page views as more people share the links through their personal networks of friends.

“There are 90 billion pieces of content going out online,” says James Citron, CEO of MMS pioneer Mogreet. “What if you could
share that by text? Text open rates are 95 percent.”

The strength of the idea is that each piece of content shared is specifically from
one person to another, with the sender clearly identified.

In early trials with various companies, Citron says they found 20 to 30 percent of
recipients clicking back to the site being referred. One early success was a pilot with Red Bull with the launch of its film "The Art of Flight,"
which included an early iteration of the moShare feature.

One key to the sharing is that content of any type -- whether video, text,
pictures and any other rich media -- can be shared through the network.

The California company, which has been dealing with mobile video
messaging since 2006, built moShare on top of its rich media messaging platform.

In its work over the years delivering hundreds of millions of
mobile marketing messages for brands including Fox Broadcasting, Nike, Cox Media Group, Reebok and Steve Madden, Mogreet had to become adept at
delivering all content types to thousands of mobile devices on a range of networks.

Essentially, Mogreet is taking its MMS-sausage-making
knowledge and capabilities and extending them to another area, which looks like a logical mobile platform extension.

Mike Johnson, co-founder
of Next Impulse Media in Palo Alto, has been trying moShare for several weeks on his Web site CosbySweaters.com and closely monitoring the
results.

“We’ve seen a 200 percent rise in our mobile traffic without a cannibalization of Facebook or Twitter sharing,”
says Johnson. The Web site, which features content such as sports and technology, is targeted to males 25 to 55 years old.

“You can
Tweet stuff and ‘Like’ all day, but if you want your buddy to see something, you send it directly,” he says. “It’s a
different use case since moShare really seeks a target.”

So now starts the chicken and egg of the volume of Web sites adding the moShare
button to achieve critical mass and the associated measurements that publishers will monitor as more of their content is moShared.

Chuck Martin is author of The Third Screen; Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile, CEO of Mobile Future Institute and
Director of the Center for Media Research at MediaPost Communications.

I have been trying to use this feature as has 4 other people in my office--it doesn't work!! Thwapr has successfully deployed Share To Phone over a year ago--and IT WORKS for thousand of videos. That's what happens in "sausage making"...too many snouts and hoofs can be dangerous to the taste. We at Thwapr prefer careful "meal planning".

@Bruce Goldstein
My name is Jack and I’m the Product Marketing Manager here at moShare. Thanks for taking the time to try moShare; I’m sorry you’re having difficulty. I work hand-in-hand with our QA dept and can happily say we’ve had delivery success rates of over 99% in the last 48 hours. So we can properly diagnose and resolve your experience, please email support@moshare.com with your mobile number and an explanation of the issue you’re encountering. We’ll get right on it.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to clarify how moShare differs from your service. Thwapr limits the user to sending links to content. moShare lets you send the actual content, whether it be videos, songs, photos, or articles. We’ve spent over the last 5 years building a platform that works cross-carrier and cross-handset, ensuring delivery to virtually every person with a mobile phone in the United States.
If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to reach me directly at jack@moshare.com.

Chuck Martin is editor of the mCommerce Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily MobileShopTalk. He is a NY Times Business bestselling author of "Mobile Influence" and “The Third Screen.” He is currently working on a new book titled “The Internet of Everything” (IoE). He is CEO of Mobile Future Institute and a frequent keynote speaker internationally. Follow him on Twitter @chuckmartin and contact him at Chuck@MediaPost.com.